July 29, 2008

Why is making videos an effective way to market your business and/or product? With hundreds of videos being uploaded to YouTube daily, it’s not surprising that thousands of videos are also being viewed daily. Many viewers watch YouTube as their main source of information, news and entertainment.

For those unfamiliar or new to internet marketing, YouTube is a popular video website service where ANYONE can upload videos for the viewing public. Although videos can be in any category with virtually unlimited topics, if you want to utilize YouTube to market your business or product, there are certain “tricks of the trade” that can be helpful.

Let’s face it, the point of uploading your video is to have people view it. Whether it’s to inform, educate or entice, your message won’t get delivered if no one is watching your video. So how can you increase your odds of having your video appear on page one, two or three on YouTube?

Before we get into the nuts and bolts of YouTube, if you are looking to market using videos, you should be aware of a few things. First of all, it takes four to five weeks to build your presence on YouTube. Don’t expect to make sales after uploading one video in one week. Making videos is also another way to let your viewers know you before they ever pick up the phone to contact you. If they like you and/or your message, you will have a better chance of connecting with the viewer.

Viewers like to watch your videos or channel many times before they will even contact you. So it’s a good idea to have 10 videos or more in your arsenal. The more videos you have, the better your chances of someone watching them.

Also, since a prospect may wait two weeks to contact you, if they are serious and they are watching YouTube everyday, they will continue to see your videos pop up as they surf around. Generally, when they see many videos from one person, it will pique their curiosity and they will view your videos or channel. Having multiple videos will help build your presence on YouTube.

Now, back to making YouTube work for you. Prior to Google’s purchase of YouTube, video rankings were based on the number of views. Thus, the more views you had on your video, the higher percentage you had of that video being on the top pages of YouTube.

In response to that, what some entrepreneurs did to increase their chances of being on page one was purchase views from vendors. Sometimes these were real viewers, but more often than not, these were just numbers put up on the videos to make it appear as if real people were watching the video.

For example, if you see a video that was uploaded five days ago and there are 5,000 – 10,000 views, it is most likely that the views were purchased.

Since Google now owns YouTube, the previous rules no longer apply. Instead, searching for videos on YouTube is similar to Google’s search engine. For instance, if you were to type in GLOBAL RESORTS NETWORK, YouTube would display all the videos matching that title. Your video may appear on page one or page twenty.

So how do you get your videos to appear on the top pages? Google is now looking at the RELEVANCE of your video. So, in addition to the TITLES, Google also looks at the DESCRIPTION you’ve written for that video. If your description has little to do with your title, your video will mostly likely not be on the top pages.

For example, if your title is HOW TO SHOP FOR A SPONSOR, and your description talks about vacations, it’s obvious that the two do not compliment the other. Your title or key words you used in your title should appear several times in your description. So do yourself a favor and spend some time writing your descriptions. It should be a short summary of your video and should reflect your title.

You can also include some basic information about your product and/or company in your description. But it shouldn’t be the main thing you include in your description unless you are making a video just about your product or company.

Here are some additional tips for your descriptions. Always include your contact information (name, email, phone number, and website) at the beginning of your description.

Here’s how you should include your website: HTTP://WWW.YOURWEBSITE. If you don’t include the HTTP://, a hyperlink will not be created. You want your prospect to be able to click on it and go directly to your website.

Sometimes watching videos is an emotional response. Remember when I mentioned that some marketers will purchase views for their video? They do that because when a viewer is presented with SO MANY videos, most will likely click on a video that has more views. If you have hundreds or thousands of views, the viewer will think that since the number is so high, it must be a video worth watching.

You can find many vendors to purchase views from through the search engines. But if you do purchase views, be sure to place them carefully on your video. Put them on videos that have been uploaded 3-4 weeks ago. A video uploaded 3 weeks ago with 1,500 views is more believable than a video 5 days ago with 5,000 views.

There’s no time like the present to start marketing on YouTube. So start making your videos and don’t forget to include value added information. And lastly, HAVE FUN with your videos!

Mree Vu is a top team trainer and is dedicated to mentoring her team to success. Discover Mree’s steps to success. Visit her at: http://www.stellarsuccess101.com

Hey, don’t let out all the good tricks. I’ve been making money with YouTube videos for over a year now and I don’t want the competition.

Just kidding, good article. Glad you pointed out about the “http://” in the description, lots of people miss that. If you don’t mind me making two more points: #1 I always include my url in the title too and #2 optimize your keywords so you show up in other more popular videos “related” section.